Parallel Lines
by InMyWildestDreams
Summary: Sequel / Alternate Ending to "The Eternal Paradox"
1. Chapter 1

This short story is a sequel / alternate ending for my story "the eternal paradox". So if you haven´t read that one, check it out first :)

* * *

Credits – Life is Strange Ep. 1 Soundtrack

* * *

 **THE ETERNAL PARADOX**

 **CHAPTER XIII-3: LIGHTNING RETURNS**

* * *

PARALLEL LINES

* * *

 _Imagine you have a destiny._

 _But you don´t fulfil it._

 _Imagine you know your path._

 _But you don´t walk it._

 _Imagine you know exactly what you´ve got to do,_

 _But you just decide against it._

 _What will happen when you simply choose to defy your fate?_

 _Will the timeline collapse into itself_

 _and everything you ever knew just cease to exist?_

 _What does it matter if reality is torn asunder,_

 _If time and space it drowned in a gigantic wave of Chaos_

 _And the world you knew is dying in a burst of flame._

 _It doesn´t matter one bit._

 _Nothing really matters._

 _Never will._

 _As long as we can be together._

* * *

„The one with the power to change the timeline must choose between those who live and those who die. They must bear the burden of the eternal paradox." the pale enigmatic woman stated somewhat pensively, looking down at her chosen champions through a gap between the stars as carefully she weighted the meaning of those words.

Yes. She had chosen a good pair of candidates this time. She really had.

Rewarding that comment of her´s with one of his curious stares, Bhunivelze only arched his eyebrows.

He wasn´t exactly fond of her choice, she knew.

But she didn´t really care for his opinion anyway.

Never had.

The almighty god of light, he had a terrible taste when it came to human beings...

„Who is he, the one with the power?" Bhunivelze asked confusedly, shaking his head in annoyance as it seemed he couldn´t grasp the answer.

The Goddess Etro, Goddess of the afterlife, she only gave one of her secretive little smiles.

„Everyone."

* * *

 **ENJOY.**


	2. Chapter 2

_The world we knew will die._

 _But every ending marks a new beginning._

 _A whole universe collapsing into nothingness._

 _And from it´s ashes,_

 _We´ll be born anew._

 _Two lovers,_

 _Ready to shape their own future._

* * *

The forest was quiet and the air was cold, misting out in front of her with every single of her shaky exhales, the thick white blanket of snow, myriads of tiny crystals covering the forest floor, was cushioning her steps, softly cracking underneath her cautious feet.

„Caius...?"

Oh, where was he hiding?

„Come on now. It´s perfect..." She heard her lovers voice whispering from somewhere in front of her urging her to follow him into the doom she knew was lying right in front of her.

Winter had come.

And her fears of the cold air freezing her to death there in the middle of the forrest without a single piece of garment clothing her body where quickly extinguished when she reached the small platform of blank smooth rock, the pleasant heat emanating from it´s smooth surface quickly warming the soft skin of her tender soles.

It was all about conquering her fears. Or was it?

It was Caius who had found the hot spring. Nestled against the side of a cliff somewhere in the nothernmost parts of the forests it had probably layn abandoned there for ages, just waiting to be discovered.

„What are you waiting for?" Caius urged.

He really could be impatient sometimes...

It was dark around her.

Deepest night.

The thick branches of the forest blocking out the little moonlight that was trying hopelessly to guide her way.

Lightning didn´t like it.

She still wasn´t very fond of water.

Least of all in complete darkness, where she couldn´t see a thing.

Inching forward she found the edge of the basin at her toes and sitting down where she knew the safety of the smooth warm rock would end she slowly let her legs glide into the soothing hot water.

Oh yes... This was exactly what she needed.

Caius Ballad hadn´t promised too much.

After all those days of chilly fierce winds and bitter cold nights the heat of the water embracing her from every side, it felt heavenly there on her weather-beaten skin.

Finally mastering her fear it was slowly and with relish that she let her body glide into the steaming waters, holding her breath until her feet met the mouldy warm ground.

She could easily reach it with her head safely above the surface. He had promised.

And she was relieved that he´d kept right. As usual.

„Caius?" She whispered into the night once more, straining her eyes now to look beyond the darkness.

She couldn´t see him.

Couldn´t see a thing.

Where had he gone?!

It was out of nowhere that the she heard his deep smooth calming voice.

„Relax. I´m here." he whispered from somewhere right behind her and her body gave an involuntary tiny shiver when she felt her lover´s smooth warm touch on the small of her back.

They were living in a paradox. She was aware.

In a tiny bubble ripe to burst any second.

But she didn´t mind.

She didn´t mind one bit.

It was exactly like Caius had always promised.

Worth it.

 _Worth anything._

Winter was hard. She had always known that. But it wasn´t as hard as she´d imagined. Not with him to keep her warm.

All those nights they had spent huddled together in front of the fire in Caius´ hut, their hut. All those days of bittercold winds and icy, numb feet. All those days spent tramping through the snow tracing game that wouldn´t show.

All those moments of complete silence, all the sounds muffled by the snow, the Archylte Steppe a thick white sea of crystals glittering and gleaming in the low setting golden winter sun.

No...

Not for one second had she missed the comfort of Cocoon. That golden cage.

It was only seldom that her thoughts would carry back to it. Seldom that the pink haired warrior looked back into her past, the future.

No.

Her eyes were set on now. The present. This very moment. And everything that made it special. Precious. And to live it to the fullest.

Yes...

Spring would come soon. And with it the foretaste of the summer.

Lightning couldn´t wait.

That previous summer. It had been magical. Had been the best summer of her life.

She couldn´t wait to see another.

Would she have the time to see it?

Lightning couldn´t tell.

She knew whatever happened, her paradise, it wasn´t meant for her forever.

Wasn´t meant for them.

On her path through this strange dream, fate was always lurking just behind the next corner.

Would she be ready to stand up against it once her time would come to face it once again?

Would she be ready to face what cruel ordeals it would throw at her?

She would.

She had managed before.

So many times.

She still remembered that day she´d last defied it.

That day in the steppe.

All those times she had before.

Would she be able to do so once more?

She would.

For him, she would.

* * *

„ _CAIUS!"_

 _She had screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Her voice filled with worry, with fear, with dread, it hadn´t been the fear of him that tinged it this time, but fear for him. Fear that she might had come too late._

„ _CAIUS!"_

 _She had screamed his name into the brisk morning air of the Archylte Steppe that day. The man she loved on his knees facing the sunset from the dew wet ground under the tree of their secret sanctuary._

„ _CAIUS!"_

 _She had screamed his name at the top of her lungs praying he would hear her, praying he´d let her reason with him, praying that there was still time, that there were still options, opportunities._

 _The purple haired man who´d been kneeling in the brown dying grass of the lands he´d been born in, the old polished six shooter grasped tightly in his hand, his right index finger pulling the trigger, ready to change his fate, his destiny, his path, her past, his future, it was with a start that he had turned his head away, the bullet meant to pierce his skull, hitting only sky._

„ _CAIUS!"_

 _It was within seconds that she had reached him, her body dropping to her knees as she had embraced him in the tightest hug she´d ever given._

„ _Oh my god! Caius..."_

 _It had been a close call. She knew._

 _But that didn´t matter._

 _He was still there._

 _Still there with her._

* * *

Drawing a shaky breath Lightning turned around in the steaming waters to pull him close to her.

That horrible day, still vivid in her mind, she knew it was nothing but a memory.

She had saved him then. There on that cool autumn morning in the Archylte Steppe.

They were still together.

And that was the only thing that counted.

Her lover´s arms holding her tightly, she felt the warm skin of his chest against her own, his hands trailing soothing patterns on her back and shoulders, with the pleasant hot water pressing against them from all around them Lightning knew that she´d done the right thing.

 _All the right things._

Maybe this was how things were supposed to be in the first place?

Maybe all those terrible things that had happened in her past... All the sorrow, All the pain...

They had led here right here. Right to him. Right to this very moment.

Maybe they´d been living in a paradox all along.

And maybe it was this time that finally they´d gotten it right?

Well...

Odds were against them as usual.

But that had never dissuaded them before.

They wouldn´t let it dissuade them now.

Never in the future.

This was their path.

The path they´d chosen.

The path they´d walk together.

And no gods or faith or destiny would keep them from walking it.

Not anymore.

Never again.

They were free.

Even if only for a short fraction in time.

They were free.

Even if only for a short moment in eternity, both of them were happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Noel´s theme lala version - FFXIII-2 OST

* * *

 **Timeless Realms of Valhalla**

 **End of Time**

Caius Ballad´s knees hit the ground hard.

His right hand shooting up to his temple where only moments ago the deadly lead of Lightning´s final bullet had pierced his skull and turned his brain to pulp, although the pain of the impact was rippling through his body like a current, his fingers coming up to the spot where the bullet had entered touching only intact skin, instead of bloody red as he head expected, they came back clean and dry.

What was going on?

Where was he?

What had happened?

Had he done it?

Was it finally over?

Looking around desorientedly it took the purple haired man a while to realize he wasn´t in the Archylte Steppe anymore, a while to recognize the strangely familiar skyline of Valhalla stretching out infront of him.

No, it couldn´t be!

What had he done?

What had he done wrong?

Why was he here?!

Why was he here again?!

He shouldn´t be here...

He shouldn´t...

Giving a defeated sigh that resembled more an helpless sob than anything else Caius Ballad closed his eyes and let his body sink back to the blank dead ground.

Had everything he´d done, all the things he´d given, all the things he´d sacrificed...

Had it all been in vain?

Bringing his eyes up again to meet the deserted ruins of the endless realms he gave one frustrated growl and it was half fury, half devastation that made him slam his fist into the dried up earth.

No. It couldn´t be.

This was a nightmare.

This couldn´t be true.

Couldn´t be real.

It couldn´t!

It couldn´t...

His fist coming back throbbing and his knuckles bleeding, the purple haired guardian only watched detachedly as the tiny streams of darkest red made their way down his fingers and to the dead rock beneath him, the ground of Valhalla greedily sucking it in, there were no stains left on the dark surface.

Lifting his head once more he let his gaze roam the many roofs and turrets of Valhalla. That place he´d never been to, yet he knew so well. From it´s towering clocktower to the bare ruins of the once proud streets, stripped down to blank cold stone by the ungentle grasp of time.

No.

No matter what he did.

No matter what he would do, had done.

He would always end up here. Wouldn´t he?

No...

There was no denying it anymore.

It was set in stone, was fate, was inescapable.

It was inevitable.

Absolute.

She had been right.

There was no way to change it.

Not for him.

Not for her.

Not for anyone.

All those times he had promised, had promised her he´d find a way.

And all this time he had been wrong.

Changing fate had always been beyond his control.

He understood that now.

And it was this understanding that almost broke him.

He didn´t know how long he lay there. His face pressed against the cold stone ground. Too weak to get up. Too weak to move, to think, to do anything really.

It didn´t matter anyway.

Time had no meaning in this place.

And so did his deeds.

Didn´t they?

Nothing mattered.

Everything would end here.

This was where all paths led to.

This was where all ends met.

Valhalla.

It was always Valhalla.

Had always been.

Would always be.

In the end he´d always end up here.

Trapped there in this prison of eternity.

 _And so would she._

And suddenly there were footsteps right behind him.

„CAIUS BALLAD!"

It was her voice.

 _Her voice!_

Or was it?

No, it wasn´t.

It was different.

Not like he used to remember it.

Not at all.

It was fierce and hostile and cold.

Nothing like he´d ever heard before.

He almost couldn´t bear to hear it.

Why was she here?

Why was she here in the first place?!

Wasn´t she supposed to be home safe?

Wasn´t nothing of this supposed to happen?

Wasn´t that why he had done all those terrible things in the first place?

It happened fast.

The realization of what was supposed to happen, of what happened, would happen.

How they would fight.

How he would win.

How he would pick his grandsword and attack her.

With everything he had.

Until finally it would be enough.

Until finally she´d succomb to her injuries and leave this world forever.

How she would lie there, limb and unmoving and how he would pick up her lifeless form to carrry her over to the shore to bury her in the crystal sea of souls, exactly like million other Caiuses had come to burry Yeul, had done so a million times.

Caius Ballad wouldn´t cry this time.

There were no tears to be shed.

All those thoughts, scenes, flashes, surging through his head.

How the timeline would wind up to bring her back to the past. To land right at his feet.

Just for the story to repeat itself.

A little different this time, but yet still the same...

„BALLAD?!"

It was that hostile voice again that made the guardian snap out of it.

No.

Not this time.

The timeline, it would end with him.

It had started with someone else, he knew.

But it would end with him.

And it would end now.

This world had surved it´s purpose.

And so had he.

The balance they had been fighting to keep upright, finally, after all this time it had crumbled.

So had they.

And the world would crumble with them.

* * *

 _Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?_

 _Insanity is doing the exact same fucking thing over and over and over again,_

 _expecting shit to change._

 _That is crazy._

\- Vaas Montenegro (FarCry3)

* * *

„You are INSANE!" she screamed at him, the tip of Blaze Edge grazing the skin of his left cheek as completely taken aback he stumbled backwards.

The insult she´d thrown at him...

Well.

Maybe he was.

Maybe everyone was.

This whole fucked up world... This universe.

„ I can never let you win, Ballad!" The pink haired warrior snapped, the bottled up hatred of centuries blazing in her fierce blue eyes as she brought her swordtip up to strike at him again.

Yes, it was insane.

Ridiculous.

Crazy.

Here they were again.

Going at each other for what had to be the milliontht time.

But still. Something was different.

Yes, this time it was different.

Something was off.

Something was wrong.

Looking down at his body Caius found himself still clad in his washed out hunter´s clothes and his breathing hitched as clasped in his right hand he found not the grand greatsword he´d expected but instead the carefully polished six shooter, useless now with all it´s chambers empty.

No... This wasn´t at all as he had expected.

Not at all what things were used to be.

Concentrating to summon the power of Chaos, Caius Ballad found it wouldn´t come.

Found his own heart beating in his chest.

Not the heart of Chaos.

No...

He hadn´t gone to Paddra this time.

Hadn´t fought in the war of Transgression.

Hadn´t become Yeul´s guardian.

He was stripped of his powers.

Had never received them in the first place.

Was vulnerable. Naked. Plainly human as he stood in front of her.

Lightning...

Why were they fighting again?

Weren´t they supposed to be in love?!

It was confusing.

So confusing...

Yes.

They were.

Had been.

But that was in the past.

So far in the past...

A thousand years ago.

And that women in front of him.

She didn´t know him.

Did not remember.

Hadn´t been there in the first place.

Wasn´t even _her_.

Yes it was about time.

He didn´t want to fight anymore.

Didn´t want the pain.

And it was with a bonechilling clatter that his palm opened and the six shooter hit the ground.

No more fighting.

The sound echoing endlessly in the dead streets of the timeless realms, Caius Ballad took a step backwards. Away from his opponent.

No, he wasn´t going to fight her anymore.

What for?

There was no way for him to win this.

To win anything.

With or without weapon.

He had lost.

Had lost her.

Had lost that war the day that he´d been born.

The female in the shining armour, she didn´t hesitate to seize the opportunity.

And it was with incredible force that Blaze Edge came rushing straight at him.

„I can´t let you go through with this Ballad... I can´t let you destroy the world!" Lightning snarled.

It was true.

She couldn´t let him carry out his crazy plans.

She couldn´t.

And she wouldn´t.

No.

She had seen the future. Had seen how everything would turn out.

She knew that whatever happened, whatever he´d do to her, whatever she had to endure, in the end she would succeed and everything would be set right.

All of this would be forgotten.

As long as she could only see Serah smile one more time, if what she had seen in the bloodied skies of Valhalla would turn into reality, she didn´t care what happened to her here.

In the end all her pain and her injuries would be worth it.

 _So worth it._

„You cannot have the future! I will safe it!" She roared.

He caught her swordarm in his unclothed hand.

It was a close call.

The edge of her famous gunblade stoppping only inches from his throat, Caius Ballad had to summon all his strength to keep it from slashing his skin.

„The past! What about the past?" he threw at her, pained amethyst eyes boring into her´s so intensily that it almost hurt her.

„You´re always so obsessed to look into the future! Why not even once, you´ve bothered gazing into the past!" He shouted at her, throwing her off with one strong thrust of his forearm.

Etro´s warrior, she landed a few feet away from him.

Her forehead wrinkled and a strange scary look there in her eyes.

He was right of course.

She had been looking into the past. She really had. To watch Serah and those happy moments she´d had in her past, all the happy memories, all those things that had happened when she´d still been a kid, all those things she was here to protect. She´d come back to watch them countless times. Like a tiny child would watch their favourite movie again and again. But besides that her eyes had always been set forward. Forward on what was yet to come.

Not once had she looked back to see the world as it had been a thousand years ago.

Was it possible that she had missed something?

Something importat?

Or was the guardian just trying to deceive her.

Trying to trick her.

Like he had tried a hundred times.

What was Caius Ballad talking about?

What was he hiding?

What was he plotting?

Yes... Plotting...

This was just another trick of his.

She wasn´t going to fall for it.

Not this time.

„Damn you, Ballad!" she spat.

A thousand times they´d fought.

A thousand times she´d killed him.

A thousand times he´d reappeared.

There in Valhalla, time didn´t flow as it should.

She charged at him again.

He defended himself with his bare hands.

But only half heartedly so.

He wasn´t going to hurt her.

Not anymore.

„Die!" The pink haired warrior snarled as she missed again. Her eyes ablaze with anger, her hands were gripping her gunblade´s hilt so hard her fingers went numb inside their black leather gloves.

She didn´t care that he was unarmed. Didn´t care that he had thrown away his weapon. That he seemed to have decided not to fight her anymore.

She didn´t care.

She hated him.

She hated him so much.

This man. He had taken everything. Had taken everything from her. Everything that had ever held meaning to her.

Why did he have to be so incredibly strong?

Why did he have to fight her in the first place?

Why do all of this?

Feeling her insides seething with rage, the heroine´s eyes were scanning her opponent´s body, looking for a weak spot, where she could strike next. There was plenty for her to see.

And Caius Ballad knew there was no way out of this.

„Okay. Enough. Lets end this." the purple haired man said defeatedly and instead of transforming into Jet Bahamut as Lightning knew he would, he just looked up at her, his face blank and his eyes empty, devoid of anything she recognized.

This time the guardian did nothing to defend himself as her gunbalde came surging at him again.

The masterfully forged blade, it pierced his hunter´s clothes with ease and went straight through his skin, his flesh, his bones to neatly pierce his heart.

 _His_ heart.

Not the heart of Chaos anymore.

 _Just like that._

The purple haired guardian´s knees slammed into the debries that littered their battlefield.

A blinding pain coursing through his entire body, he couldn´t stifle a tortured gasp escaping from his trembling lips.

Why...

Why was she doing this to him...?

Dragging shaky, laboured breaths, every single one of them hurting like a knife stabbing at his ribcage, Caius Ballad willed his head to turn upwards.

Upwards at the girl he´d loved in his past, would love in her future.

The muscles of his neck responding only reluctantly, the hunter somehow managed to lift his head and look into those blazing ice blue eyes.

Feeling terribly dizzy, large dark dots clouding his vision, the purple haired man, he tried to find his lover in those features, these strangly unfamiliar features.

So different, yet so simliar.

Searching them for the woman he once loved, he found he countn´t find her there.

She wasn´t there.

Was gone.

Had never existed in the first place.

All those things he´d loved about her...

All those things they´d experienced together...

They hadn´t even happened yet.

Never would.

Something solid colliding hard with his chest, knocking the last bit of air out of his lungs, Caius Ballad felt his body kicked backwards and the back of his head slammed hard into the rocky ground of Valhalla as his opponent pulled her blade from her slay.

The pink haired warrior, she gave a sigh of relief.

Finally.

She had finally done it.

Finally, afer all this time, she had succeeded.

Never had she felt so satisfied.

The man she had fought so many times, he was lying at her feet, his final breaths rattling through his chest, Lightning realized she felt pity.

Pity for him.

It didn´t last long though.

The dying man´s wild enigmatic eyes. Once so fierce so unrelenting. Suddenly they seemed so weak, so empty. Seemed so dull.

They looked up at her now, pleading her to end it, ready to face his destiny.

She´d grant it to him without a second thought.

And raising her sword at her enemy for what felt like the millionth time since she had arrived in this godforsaken place, Etro´s warrior took a determined step forwards, readying it for the next blow, readying it for the kill.

„Forgive me Claire..."

His voice was brittle.

Barely there.

She almost didn´t hear it.

Almost.

„Please... Forgive me."

Somehow he would never shut up, would he?

„Go to hell." she hissed between her gritted teeth before she made Blaze Edge came down hard.

It was with her last blow that finally his heart stopped beating and his chest stopped moving. Those familiar amethyst eyes fluttering shut one last time, it was over.

No pain.

No fear.

It was over.

Finally, it was over.

The knight in Etro´s armour pulled back her gunblade, ridding it´s steel from her enemy´s blood with one swift movement of her right hand.

„Oblivion is the fate of all things." she whispered at her finally dead nemesis, quoting one of those stupid phrases he had spat at her so many times.

It was over.

The guardian´s body usually fading into Chaos the second he was done, this time it stayed pretty solid.

Dead.

Real.

It was real!

It was over!

She almost couldn´t believe it.

Somehow it didn´t seem real.

Somehow the satisfaction, the happiness, the relief, it wouldn´t come.

In it´s stead there was the dull pressing emptiness of the timeless realms.

The beat of her heart the only sound in the entire universe.

Without Caius Ballad it suddenly seemed oddly empty.

Seemed so wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

_santa monica dream – Agnus and Julia Stone (Life is Strange OST)_

* * *

 **Archylte Steppe**

It was time to go.

With a dozen white wildflowers woven into her hair and her body clothed in a beautiful white dress not unlike the one she´d seen Imani wear a year ago, Lightning got to her bare feet.

It was tradition to wear the flowers. And it was tradition not to wear shoes.

The pink haired warrior did not complain as she took in her appearance in the mirror Cara Ballad had set up for her. In fact she couldn´t. She was afraid she´d throw up the second she´d open her mouth.

One last check up on her hair and clothes and she followed the tall lank woman who was soon going to be her sister in law out of the cozy hut and into the light outisde.

It was a pretty early summer day. Not too hot in the sun, not too cool in the shadows either. There wasn´t a single cloud in the sky and the constant breeze that usually roamed the steppe seemed to magically have taken a break just so that her hair would stick in place the way Cara Ballad had intended.

But Claire Farron didn´t notice.

She didn´t notice the birds merrily chirping away in the trees. Not even the soft dewy ground, moist beneath her bare feet.

All she heard was the pounding of her heart that seemed to have dropped to her stomach and all she felt were her insides clenching and unclenching in excitement.

Oh, she was nervous.

So very nervous.

So nervous she didn´t even bother that she was wearing a dress. Didn´t care for the ridiculous hairstyle Cara Ballad had forced upon her.

She wasn´t sure what would await her.

Wasn´t sure what was expected from her.

And she realized that she was scared.

Scared of doing something wrong.

Of ruining everything.

It was before she knew it that they reached the staircase of the main building and it was clasping the purple haired woman´s hand very tightly that she climbed the steps on wobbly knees.

Oh, why did she have to be so nervous?

Lightning wasn´t sure.

Never had she felt so nervous without any kind of danger around.

She had fought in thousand battles had faced murderous beast, Fal´Cie, even death. But never had she felt so nervous before.

One step after the other and slowly the first deck of the main building came into view. Lightning saw all the benches, all the tables already arranged there for the festivities she knew where going to last until long into the night, but no people where in sight.

Slowy Cara Ballad steered her away from the sight and up to the second platform, where Etro´s fallen champion could already hear the shuffling and the muffled voices of what had to be the entire village gathered in small space.

Suddenly she felt unable to breathe, felt ready to throw up, to pass out even and if Cara Ballad hadn´t been there to support her, she might have sunken to her knees.

The purple haired nurse, she gave a tiny chuckle as she saw the huntress cringe, as she felt her sweaty hand tremble in her palm.

„It´s just your nerves dear." she whispered reasuringly as she tugged the pink haired girl along.

No way was she going to let her quit now. Under any circumstances.

A few more steps and they had reached the crowd.

A crowd of more or less familiar people who dressed up in their best clothes formed a path to let her through. And it was approaching the last set of stairs that finally the pink haired bride looked up, up onto the topmost platform where she knew some undefined time into the future the weather changing device would sit. But it wasn´t the weather changing device she thought about as she climbed the last few steps. It was the man standing there on the top of the stairs greeting her with one of his loving smiles. Him alone. And it was as if all her nerves, all her fears, her racing heart and her stomach and her clothes and her hair where forgotten the second that she reached him and he took her hand.

Their eyes meeting for a sweet short moment, warm soothing amethyst on icy blue, they were only granted a second before music started to play from somewhere to their side and everyone turned towards the front where a smiling Caine Ballad waited for the crowd to settle.

It was shortly after that he started to speak, but the pink haired bride with the pretty flowers braided in her hair, she didn´t seem to hear a thing.

Instead she marveled at the way the light shone throught the lush green canopy of the nearby trees, the way the gentle summer breeze played with the many flower garlands the women from the tribe had made for them.

Marveled at the way that everything had turned out for her, for them.

One year. It´s been one year already.

One magical year.

It had been the most beautiful year of her life.

So many things had happened.

So many things had changed.

And now she was getting married.

Married to Caius Ballad.

Lightning almost couln´t believe it.

Her small pale hand resting in his so much bigger palm, Caius Ballad gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Everything was going to be alright.

Everything was fine.


	5. Chapter 5

Noel´s theme – lala version FFXIII-2 OST

* * *

 _ **First you took my heart.**_

 _ **Then you took it´s beats.**_

 _ **Tell me,**_

 _ **What else can I give you?**_

* * *

Caius Ballad remembered the pain.

The pain of the person he loved not recognizing him.

The pain of the person he loved looking upon him with hate, with spite, with vengeance.

The pain of the person he loved calling him insane and brutally kicking him to the ground.

The pain of the person he loved driving a blade into his heart.

The pain...

It rippled through his entire body to his arms, to the tips of his fingers, to his legs, into every single one of his toes, through his skin and his bones to the core of his very being.

It was unbearable.

All the memories of any pain he had once felt were suddenly insignificant and small, completely overshadowed and rendered utterly meaningless in light of the cruel truth that had been revealed before his very eyes, in those last moments, before he had taken his final breath.

He had failed.

He hadn´t changed a thing.

Everything was still the same.

And would continue to be until the end of time.

Fate had won. Had crushed him. And so had she.

She had won this time.

Lightning had won.

And he...

Carefully opening his eyes, tentatively, almost reluctantly, scared of what he might be finding once he´d opened them, dreading to see the enternal rooftops of Valhalla hovering above him once again, Caius Ballad found only darkness. Found oblivion.

Where was he?

Where had he landed this time?

Straining his eyes to make out his surroundings, Caius Ballad was met with only emptiness.

Straining his ears to make out a sound, there was only silence pressing against his eardrums.

Nothingness. Pressing against him from every side. It engulfed him, cushioned him, calmed him, gave him new hope.

Maybe he was dead.

Yes.

Surely this was what death felt like.

To Caius Ballad it felt oddly soothing.

A sudden airiness, a lightness replacing the worry, the pain, the sadness that had had him in it´s clutches for such a long time, all those negative feelings that had been weighing him down so long, they were suddenly lifted, gone.

So far away.

Unimportant.

Meaningless.

He felt free.

But it was for a disappointtingly short time that it lasted.

And then, out of the emptiness, there came those flashes.

Blurs.

Whispers.

Voices.

Shapes.

„ _Caius..._ "

It was Lightning´s voice, or was it?!

„ _Caius... Wake up..."_

Looking around, desperate to find the source of the sound, the shapes around him blurring, spinning, swimming in and out of focus, suddenly they stopped and the picture there in front of him came into focus.

It wasn´t Lightning.

Not at all.

„Caius."

It was Yeul who found him in the void beyond.

All of them.

All the Yeuls who ever existed, who´d ever exist.

They were floating right in front of him, behind him, arround him, _through_ him.

All those many Yeuls waiting for him, looking at him, longingly, expectantly, they did nothing to mend the pain that was spreading again through his heart, through his soul.

His eyes done with scanning the sourrounding crowd of Yeuls, the purple haired man´s eyes came to rest on the girl right in front of him.

There she was. His Yeul. The one he´d met in Paddra what seemed like a million years ago.

Her purple pleated skirt as neatly as always and her long blue hair fanning out behind her, Caius Ballad recognized her instantly.

She was the only Yeul who looked resentful, bitter.

The only Yeul who´d gotten rejected.

„Paddra Nsu-Yeul...?!" the hunter managed with difficulty.

In the infinite dephts of oblivion his voice sounded raspy and small, insignificant almost.

The little girl, she gave a tiny nod.

And it was as if on cue that all the other Yeuls just vanished to be replaced again with pressing emptiness.

„I know we haven´t had a lot of time together this time." the girl suddenly spoke.

The man who had never been her guardian only stared back at her.

„Not the most pleasant of meetings either..." she added carefully and Caius found a small sad smile spreading on her pouty lips.

The young child looking at him with those strange green hounting eyes, the purple haired man realized he had nothing to say to her.

Nothing at all.

„Oh Caius..." she started sadly.

„All those escapades... All that fighting... All that denial... And now you´re here."

Caius Ballad furrowed his brow.

 _Escapades?!_

„But... Where exactly am I?" the guardian questioned carefully. „Am I dead?"

„Yes." the girl answered truthfully.

„Yes Caius... You died."

He had already expected it.

Still, to hear it out of somebody else´s mouth, to have his thoughts confirmed, it was something else entirely.

Looking down at his body, half expecting it to be see-through and shiny, he found he still locked rather solid.

Well... After all death wasn´t as bad as he had expected.

„This is the void beyond. A place of shadows. Here the sinners have to atone for their sins, Caius. Until finally they are ready to move on." the seeress said.

 _Sins?_

 _What sins?_

Caius Ballad didn´t understand one thing.

„Oh Caius... Surely you can´t think you´re without failure." the young girl giggled at his complete lack of comprehension.

„Don´t worry. You are not alone. Everyone commits their sins, Caius." the seeress reassured him.

And it was with the darkness slwoly fading like a veil being lifted from his eyes, that the completedly startled man found himself on the hard solid ground of a vast cavernous room, the rocky walls reaching up so high he couldn´t even make out the ceiling.

„Everyone."


	6. Chapter 6

Noel´s theme lala version - FFXIII-2 OST

* * *

 **Realm of the Dead**

 _And now open your eyes!_

Caius Ballad complied to find himself surrounded by a million people.

People.

So many people...

Men.

They were all wearing the same deep black body armour. The same huge greatsword tugged in their hands, to their bodies, at their sides.

They had the same wild purple hair.

The same shade of amethyst eyes.

The same angular jawline.

Faces.

So many faces.

In all those faces he could see himself.

Some of them were decorated in scars, some of them looked weatherbeaten and wary while some of them sported triumphant smirks. One of them was actually missing an eye.

Still they were there.

They were all there.

All of them.

All the Caiuses who had ever existed, who would ever exist.

But somehow they were different.

Somehow he was not like them.

So many people...

A million versions of himself...

All of them had once faced Lightning.

But none of them had ever dared to love her.

Noone but him.

Yes. He was different. So very different.

Looking around into the crowd of selves, Caius realized he was the only one who had never been a guardian. Who´d never had the heart of Chaos. The only one who didn´t carry a sword. A purple-black body armour. But just his worn out hunter´s clothes.

All those men...

Were they all here to atone for their sins too?

Had they all lost their battles in Valhalla?

Wait... How many versions of him were there exactly?!

Feeling rather peculiar, Caius Ballad started moving through the crowd.

All the other Caiuses, they seemed to be rather busy.

Some of them were talking animatedly to each other, some were arguing even, but most of them were hustled close together near what seemed the center of the room, were they stood in silence, staring into what seemed to be some giant sphere that lay encased there in the rocky ground.

Pushing past a group of purple haired men debating over some kind of betting odds, the purple haired hunter peeked a glimpse of the woman he loved climbing Etro´s throne and turning into crystal while the world that he remembered was drowned by a wave of Chaos, the gigantic force once contained in Valhalla, pouring into the world of the living and devouring every single piece of it.

Was that what was happening in the world after he had left?

Was this what was going to happen?

Feeling confused and somewhat lost, the purple haired man found one of the guardians giving a frustrated shake of his head while a group of others erupted in joyful shouts of triumph.

Why exactly was he here?

Was he meant just to watch?

Seeing flashes of a world consumed by Chaos, it´s population stagnant, shrinking and hopeless, Caius Ballad turned away.

He didn´t want to see it.

Didn´t want to face it.

Couldn´t, in fact.

It was too much.

And retreating from the events in the sphere and from the others he walked away.

Away from the crowd that was now braking into excited babbling.

Away from all those cruel pictures, from all those things he couldn´t change, Caius found his feet carrying him into darkness and towards a familiar sound.

The sound of a burbling stream.

 _That sound..._

It lead him further and further away from the others, deeper and deeper into the darkness of the cavernous space, past more and more of those ground encased spheres and towards what seemed to be a merrily bubbling spring shining brightly in the distance.

Was there water in the world of the dead?

Somehow he couldn´t believe it.

Could water even shine that bright?

The sound and the light both drawing him closer and closer, after quite some time of walking Caius Ballad reached what he thought to be the bank of bubbling creek.

But drawing up to look over the edge he found there was no water there.

Just tiny glowing orbs.

Orbs of different size and colour, some shining brightly, some only emitting a dull weak gleam, they were all running down a gentle slope starting right there at his feet.

 _Weird..._

Getting down on his knees, the hunter let his right hand run over the current of orbs.

They felt smooth and polished there against his skin.

Some of them cold as ice, some burning hot, every one of them had different colour, different size, different properties alltogether.

Overwhelmed by curiousity the hunter bent over and picked up a big pale green one.

It was heavy in his hand, much heavier than he´d expected.

Giving it a closer look, Caius Ballad found it´s colour changing, found tiny blurry shapes appearing on it´s smooth surface.

It was as if somehing inside it was moving.

Tiny shapes, no people.

He couldn´t make them out.

Shaking his head in confusion the dark glad man carefully set the glimmering orb back to the others and got up on his feet.

Still musing over the strange orbs and their meaning, he decided to follow the river downstream to see where it led.

He didn´t have anything better to do anyway, or had he?

He still had no clue as what he was here to do, as how he would have to atone for his sins.

Further and further he went into the darkness, the merrily burbling stream of spheres the only source of light as far as he could see, it was when he already started to question the meaningfulness of his endeavor that the stream entered a hole in the ground and vanished from the surface forever.

 _Great..._

Even in the realm of the dead he only met dead ends.

Was this the way he had to pay for his sins?

Hitting walls for the rest of eternity?

No.

He had suffered enough.

But what could he do?

Lifting his gaze from the ground Caius Ballad´s eyes scanned the rough surface of the rock for a hidden way of passage. But there was nothing. Was no way. Only dark hard stone staring back at him.

Sinking down to his knees he defeatedly leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

He didn´t know why he´d come here in the first place. Why he had followed the stream. But there was that inexplicable urge inside him to see where it led, like it was his top priority mission, like everything depended on it.

But there simply was no way...

Extending his arm he let his fingers caress the surfaces of the passing orbs once more.

Or was there?

Oh, what was her even doing here?!

Wasn´t he supposed to watch the end of the world like all the others?

But still, he didn´t turn around.

No.

Leaning over to study the shiny mass of spheres again for a seemingly unmeasurable stretch of time Caius Ballad just sat there thinking. And it was then when he wouldn´t have thought an answer would be granted to him anymore that suddenly a funny feeling of realization dawned on him.

It was easy really.

Almost too easy.

Looking back to where he knew all the quardians were still watching their spheres the hunter knew there was no turning back.

No.

There was only forward.

And with one swift movement Caius Ballad let his body dive into the light.


	7. Chapter 7

_Golden Hour – Life is Strange Menu Music_

* * *

 **Archylte Steppe**

„Cato! What are you doing?!" Claire Ballad´s voice echoed over the Archylte Steppe and over to a small rock formation a hundred meters to her left where a small lavender haired boy prodded a baby gorgonopsid with a stick he used to wield as a makeshift hunting spear.

„Oh come on... He´s just finding out about the steppe and it´s animals...It´s natural. I mean he´s going to be a hunter someday."

The pink haired woman with the ice blue eyes, she rewarded her husband´s comment with one of her stern looks.

„Mommy, my legs hurt... How much further is it?" the tiny girl she was leading by her hand pouted up at her, her long magenta hair tangling wildly in the fresh breeze.

„Not much further, Cecile." her mother assured. And it was just a second later that her father lifted her to enjoy the rest of their journey from his shoulders.

She giggled wildly, her tiny fists lashing out to chase the butterfies circling in the air above.

It was spring again.

Another beautiful spring.

And the flowers around them were starting to bud in a million colours, the grass they waded through a lush light green.

There were flocks of birds chasing each other and soft white clouds dotting the azure blue sky.

It was the perfect day for a picnic. And it was for that purpose that Claire and Caius Ballad led their family up to their favourite spot. Their private sanctuary.

It was the first time for Cecile and the third time for Cato. The milliontht time for them.

But no mattter how often they visited that place, they never seemed to grow tired of it.

It was special.

Just like everything else about them.

Everything else about their family.

The dark story of their past only a distant shadow in their memories, there weren´t a lot of things to cloud the happiness of their life in the Archylte Steppe. It was a simple life they led. But they had everything they needed. They had themselves.

„There we are." Lightning said smiling at her daughter the second that they reached the tree on top of the hill.

„Woooooow" the small girl admired as she marveled at the scenery.

The plains of the Archylte Steppe stretching out before them as endlessly as ever, tiny Cecile couldn´t believe her huge blue eyes as she let her gaze wander the horizon.

Never in her short life had she seen anything that reached so far.

„Mama! Papa!" the voice of her brother made the girl turn round.

The young boy shouting out to them, he came chasing up the hill towards them, the baby gorgonopsid he´d been playing with before trailing at his feet.

„Can we keep him?!" he burst out the second that he´d reached them, out of breath from running and a pleading look there on his face as he made to brush away some stray lavender strads that had fallen in his eyes.

„Pluuhhheeeeeeeaase!"

„Sure." Caius Ballad answered as he let his body drop into the grass.

„Not under any circumstances!" his mother said at the same time.

She was starting to retrieve their picnic from her bag and her eyes flashed horrified as she realized what her husband had just said.

„No way! A gorgonopsid is no pet! It´s dangerous!"

„But he is not dangerous at all! Look!" Her son retorted playfully as he bent down to scoop the small beast up into his arms.

„He can be my friend!"

The baby gorgonopsid baring it´s fangs and hissing angrily, Claire Ballad only rolled her eyes.

What was Cato going to bring home next?

A baby Behemoth?

Her purple haired husband only shrugged his shoulders.

„Fine by me. But you have to look after him yourself." he finally said, ending the discussion as he turned to help his wife unpack their snacks.

The sun standing high in the sky already, it gently warmed their skins, as hurriedly the kids sat down to nibble on their hard dried meats and pick on their nuts and berries, the baby gorgonopsid chewing happily on Cato´s makeshift spear.

Their parents lounging in the grass themselves, over the heads of their offspring, their gazes met.

They knew they were lucky.

So incredibly lucky.

Non of them voiced it.

But both of them knew.

The chances of things turning out as they had. They´d stood one to a gazillion.

Still. They were here.

They had no idea how they had done it.

No idea how they deserved this.

But they were here.

They´d made all the right decisions.

Taken all the right turns.

They´d done all the right things.

And now.

Finally.

They were here.

 _Constants and variables._

 _Givens and possibilities._


	8. Chapter 8

Noel´s theme lala version – FFXIII-2 OST

* * *

 **Realm of the Dead**

The current of spheres, it instantly caught him and pushed him away, pulled him down under the surface, surrounded him, engulfed him, absorbed him. There was no escaping it. And he found he didn´t want to. Wanted to ride the stream of light for the remainder of eternity because despite of it´s power, it´s energy, it´s weight he found it neither crushing nor pressing, but infinitely soothing.

He had no idea how long he´d been floating there in the nothingness, didn´t even care, until suddenly the blinding white glow around him vanished to be replaced by the low ceiling of a stone cave.

Taking in his surroundings Caius Ballad found himself in a white basin of light with roughly carved stone steps leading up to a dry cracked rocky ground.

The walls around him were nothing but cold smooth plain rock and it wasn´t until he reached the top of the stairs that he realized how dark it was inside the cave, for it was then that all of a sudden the pool of white light from which he had emerged went out to give way to inpenetrable darkness.

The hunter´s senses taken by surprise, it took his tired eyes quite some time to adjust. And when finally the vail was lifted he found that the darkness wasn´t that inpenetrable at all, found a soft warm gleam of light coming from one of the caves many tunnels.

The tunnel leading him to another cave, the ceiling even lower this time, with a blinding white shimmer coming from the far end, it was with a weird feeling in his insides that Caius Ballad made to explore his new surroundings.

There were even more spheres in here.

Some embedded in the ground like the one he had already seen upon his arrival, there were others facing him from all the walls and ceilings.

Reaching the first one in his path, the man who´d never been the seeress´ guardian found himself looking down onto the familiar skyline of Valhalla where he could see the tiny pink haired figure of Lightning still engaged in battle with him.

No...

Not him.

 _He had never fought like that!_

The Caius in the sphere was skilled. So incredibly skilled! He had powers he himself could never have dreamed to master. Not even in a thousand years.

No.

It wasn´t him.

Another Lightning and another Caius then.

Locked in their own battle of eternity.

Watching them in some strange sort of fascination it took Caius Ballad a great deal of self control to pull himself away.

No, he couldn´t stay to watch forever.

 _He needed to move forward._

A little further down the path he found another sphere, another Lightning fighting an enormous golden beast, maybe a god even.

 _Bhunivelze._

He didn´t stay to watch this one.

That wasn´t what he´d come for.

Wait, what had he come for exactly?

Somehow he had no idea.

What exactly was this place?

Passing another dozen of spheres each of them showing him familar faces in strange unfamiliar scenes, Caius Ballad found himself more and more confused by every step he took.

But he continued.

The shining gleam somewhere infront pulling him closer and closer, trying hard not to let himself get distracted by the many pictures so persistently thrown at him, he kept moving forward.

Past low hanging stalagtides it led him, past high rocky walls and deep rifts in the ground. And spheres. Even more of those spheres.

Stealing curious glimpses at them here and then, no matter where he looked he found himself confronted with her face.

Lightning.

Somehow she was everywhere.

Everywhere but there with him.

If only he could see her again...

Just one more time...

It was just then that he reached the end of the tunnel. A dead end again. And with it the source of the glow.

His final destination.

His feet moving completely of their own accord, Caius Ballad came to halt infront of what seemed to be a giant shining tapestry decorating the smooth rock wall.

It shone so bright it almost hurt his eyes.

„The fabric of time. Woven from the entirety of timelines." the familiar voice of Paddra Nsu-Yeul answered his unvoiced question.

Suddenly she was floating there right next to him.

Caius Ballad only arched a brow.

„Take a look..." the seeress cued.

Stepping forward to take a closer look at the ancient tapestry Caius Ballad found a million tiny crystal beads strung together to a threat, each of them shining brighter than even the sun, tightly interwoven with each other. But no, they weren´t simply beads, weren´t simply crystal.

No... Leaning closer still, he saw movement there again, fashes, blurs, no shapes! Tiny shapes moving there inside. No wolds. Whole worlds encaptured in those crystal beads.

Moments caught there for eternity.

There were Grand Pulse and Cocoon and Valhalla, and Cara and Caine and Lightning and him.

There was a bear of a man and a dark-skinned boy and a pink haired girl that reminded him a lot of Lightning.

In one there was war and death and destruction.

In one there was peace and a house and the sea.

And in one there was nothing but an empty stone desert.

And in another a city with buildings reaching high into the sky.

And suddenly it dowed on him.

Suddenly he saw it too.

Saw it crystal clear.

They were there.

All the timelines.

All the alternate realities.

Infinite possibilities.

All played out infront of him.

All those universes.

Parallel lines.

Some very familiar and similiar to the one he knew, other completely different and plain strange, some disoncerting to say the very least.

Caius Ballad had a hard time to keep his head from spinning.

Looking up and down the timelines he subconciously combed the sea of beads for the one he´d once called home.

There was one where Lightning had gone back into the past just to get killed by a pack of beast.

And one where they´d met in the dephts of the Archylte Steppe just to continue their stupid fighting.

There were lots were Lightning didn´t travel to the past at all.

But among all those timelines he couldn´t find the one he knew.

But it had to be there somewhere!

It simply had to!

His heart starting to pump faster and faster in his chest, Caius Ballad found himself growing slightly anxious as frantically he flipped his gaze from one bead to the other.

And then he found it.

There they were.

Him and Lightning huddled together in the waist hight grass under the tree of their private sanctuary.

Lightning.

 _His_ Lightning.

He recognized her instantly.

She looked so different from the others, not so hounted, not so fierce.

He realized she was the only Lightning who was smiling.

The only Lightning who looked happy.

He could see himself reaching out to cup her face or maybe to tuck a stray strand of silky pinkish hair back behind her pretty ears.

Yes, he remembered that moment.

All those precious moments.

He would carry them with him wherever he´d go. Would carry them in his heart forever.

„What is going on? What is this place?" he mouthed his question carefully. He wasn´t entirely sure he wanted to know.

The blue haired girl she only gave a secretive little smile.

She was still floating there in mid air.

Yeul... That girl... To Caius she was nothing but a shady memory. Wasn´t dear or precious like he knew she ought to be.

„Why am I here?" he asked again.

„Watch further..." the seeress said.

The hunter with the purple hair complied.

Looking further up the timelines he could make out a dark winter night, a steaming hot bath, a mild sunny spring and a lot of hot summers. All the things there would ´ve been if he hadn´t pulled the trigger. They were all layn there in front of him.

His sister and his brother, smiling, hugging him.

A purple haired man with a broad grin and a cheery pink haired woman in a white wedding dress.

Two young children with strange magenta and lavender hair playing merrily in the tall high grass of the Archylte Steppe.

No it couldn´t be.

Frustrated Caius Ballad hit the wall.

What was going on?

All those fancy things...

All those precious moments...

To him they hadn´t happened yet, they hadn´t!

How could they be happening if he wasn´t even there?!

No.. This couldn´t be!

There had to be a way back, hadn´t there?

There had to be!

Yes!

He was supposed to be down there. To be down there with her!

„You are dead, Caius." Yeul´s calm voice reminded from somewhere behind him.

The purple haired hunter turning around to face her, the girl found a single shiny tear making it´s way down his haunted cheek.

„But... But I am down there!" he said, helplessly guesturing at the bead in question.

„How is this all possible?"

The blue haired girl just gave a tiny sigh.

„You are here Caius. Yet you are still there. Your soul has split again. And so has the timeline."

she tried to explain.

„It had happened so many times..."

The purple haired man, he could only stare at her in disbelieve.

„Parallel lines, you see." the seeress said.

„In this univere your bullet missed."

„And in this you died." she concluded gesturing at the cave around them.

„But..." the hunter stuttered.

„No, Caius. No buts. There is nothing you can do." the girl assured him.

„What about her... What about them?!" The hunter´s voice became fragile as he continued to stare at the tiny crystal beads. Alternate worlds altogether.

"They too only exist in that single universe. Nowhere else. To you they aren´t real. Will never be." Paddra Nsu-Yeul explained.

"But her... What about her? Did her soul split as well?!"

The blue haired girl, she only gave a cryptic smile.

„Don´t be sorry Caius. It will all be over soon."

And it was giving him a tiny wink that inclining her head the tiny girl directed his gaze downwards where the ancient crystal tapestry seemed to suddenly just end. Following the crystal beads towards the indicated spot, Caius Ballad´s eyes found the place where all ends met.

The bottom end of the tapestry was dull and lifeless. The crystal beads there weren´t shining. Didn´t carry any faces, shapes or worlds. They were only black brittle coles. Burned out. Filled with nothing but a dark distortion where it all ended in oblivion.

„What is that there? What is going to happen?!"

„The world we know will die. Soon all the possibilities will´ve been played through and finally the fabric of time and space will crumble. And all those timelines, all those universes, all those worlds, they will crumble with it."

The hunter stared.

Yeul had to be joking.

His eyes fixed upon the distortion, the chaos there infront of him, he couldn´t help but feel his body tremble.

„The end of time, Caius."

And suddenly, as if on cue, the earth beneath them gave a jolt. The ground to his feet mimicking his trembling hands there was a gread rumbling thunder as the rock around them started cracking and crumbling, great piles of ruble coming from above as the ceiling was slowly beginning to cave in.

„It´s about time." the seeress smiled and gestured towards a hole that was forming in the wall just opposite the tapestry.

On the other side the hunter found the vast cavernous room where he´d first landed, a rock hewn cathetrale, with all the other Caiuses gathering infront of a white blinding light that seemed to burst through the giant granite walls. Al those men huddled together closer and closer he only watched in amazement as he saw them merge into one person silhuetted now against the light.

„What in Pulses name..."

„It is happening. The old world dies." Yeul stated. Her voice indifferent.

„Everything is starting to dissolve."

„The world of the dead and the world of the living will collapse into a single dark mass. Into oblivion. And from it´s ashes a new world will be born."

„What... What are they doing?!" The hunter asked pointing at the many men that were now lining up infront of the light. Some eager as if they couldn´t wait, some looking rather cautious and wary.

„They are preparing for their journey." Yeul explained. „You, Caius, will become the guardian of the afterlife. All of you. You´d better hurry. You don´t want to be left behind."

Feeling the incredible pull towards the light that guided the others to walk straight into it, the man in his plain brown hunter´s clothes hesitated.

The rock beneath him, around him, above him getting thinner and thinner, the cracks growing wider and brighter, he suddenly found the cave flooded by a blue green shining mist, found it forcing it´s way in, found it floating past him, around him, through him, as it made it´s way towards the light.

„The lifestream." the seeress explained.

„The essence of the universe. The memories, emotions and knowledge of everyone who had ever lived in it. All the rescued souls... They will find their way into the new world."

„Rescued souls?" tearing his eyes away from the spectactle in front of him Caius Ballad forced his gaze back to the girl.

The blue haired seeress, she only smiled.

„Yes Caius. The rescued souls. They will all join the lifestream."

„They will be granted a new chance. Born anew in a world that is yet to come."

„What about her..." The hunter started carefully. „Will she be granted a new chance as well?"

He almost didn´t dare to ask.

The seress gave a sorry little sigh.

„No Caius." the girl revealed. „While you will remain behind to guard the afterlife, Claire Farron will be there to watch over the gate to the living. Just like Etro did for such a long time."

„You better hurry. It is time to go."

„Wait but... Why?!"

Paddra Nsu-Yeul only shook her head.

„Go Caius... Go into the light."

„No..." the hunter started.

„NO! I don´t want to come!"

This was all wrong.

This was not like it was supposed to be at all.

Okay.

He wasn´t granted a new chance.

That was okay with him.

He understood.

But her...

Why her...

She hadn´t done anything wrong.

None of it was her fault!

„She is here somewhere!" he suddenly said. And his voice suddenly sounded not weak and defeated as it had a moment ago but determined and strong.

„Everyone who ever died is here somewhere! Right?!"

The girl infront of him, she only stared at him.

He didn´t care.

He didn´t need her confirmation.

And it was brushing the image of the girl away that Caius Ballad turned to run.

Away from the seeres.

Away from the guardians.

And away from the light.

He followed the lifestream instead.

A low hanging stream of blue green light.

Somehow it was guiding him, was whispering to him, was encouraging him to carry on.

Over rocks and holes and deep cracks in the ground it led him. The earth underneath him shaking violently and huge portions of the cavernous ceiling coming down on him to let in the darkness, the emptiness, the nothingness he had faced in the void beyond Caius Ballad found the world of the dead dissolve, found it sucked into oblivion.

There wasn´t much time.

Somehow there never was much time.

Would it be enough?

Would it be enough to find her?

He knew she had to be there.

Somewhere.

He just knew it.

She HAD to be.

And further he ran.

Past more of the guardians and past strangers and monsters and gods.

And then suddenly there she was.

Standing right in front of him.

Her soft pinkish hair fanning out behind her, it was with her back turned towards him, ready to face her own patch of blinding white light, that Caius Ballad found her.

He couldn´t believe his luck.

The hunter´s heart giving a jolt of relief he reached out for her arm to make her turn around.

„Lightning!"

The woman in front of him whirled around fast.

Icy blue eyes meeting relieved amethyst ones.

But those eyes, they lacked the afffection the hunter had hoped to find in them.

They weren´t exactly hostile but they weren´t friendly either.

What had happened to the Lightning he had met?

Had he lost her with the dying world?

Had she ever really existerd?

Suddenly he wasn´t so sure anymore. Maybe yes. Maybe not? It all was starting to get burry in his head.

No...

Something was off.

Something wasn´t right.

And looking past the woman there in front of him, finally he saw them.

A million Lightnings.

All of them.

Just like all the guardians he had encountered, there they were, a sea of Lightnings.

A million different versions of the woman he had loved, lining up infront of their own path of crystal white light, ready to be merged just the same.

Would he be able to find his one?

Scanning the ocean of pink heads, Caius found he couldn´t find her there.

Had she already stepped into the Light?

No...

No way.

The Lightning he´d once known would not have given up that easily!  
Or would she?

Suddenly he wasn´t so sure.

And it was a sudden surge of panick that was gripping his heart in a vice that made him jolt forward and towards the crowd.

If only he could see her one more time.

If only they could share one more minute.

If only he could hold her once again.

„LIGHTNING?!" He cried at the top of his lungs as he fored himself a path through the crowd of pink haired women.

„ _What do you want here?!"_

„ _Leave at once!"_

„ _You are not welcome here!"_

„ _Go away!"_

„ _Get lost, Ballad!"_

The women around him fixed him with their hostile stares.

Started pulling at him, pushing him, started shoving him away.

„Lightning, please!" he cried as an especially fierce looking one picked him up by his clothes and tired to pull him away.

„Please, I gotta find her!"

„Who?!" the tough female asked.

„Lightning..." the hunter stammered.

„Are you kidding?! I AM Lightning!" she roared as she started to drag him away from the ground and towards the darkness, the Chaos that was beginning to devour the world of the dead hungrily reaching out for him.

„We all are!"

„NO... No you´re not."

„I need to find the real Lightning." the hunter muttered to himself as wiggling away from the woman´s deadly grip, sprinting away at full speed he brushed past the sea of hostile females.

„We are all Lightning. All the Lightning´s that have ever been. We are all real!" the angry women screamed at him.

„No... No, you´re not..." He murmured as he fought his path further.

But the further he got the more hostile they seemed to become.

„LIGHTNING!" He cried her name out into the dephts of the realm of the dead, desperately trying to find the woman he loved, but no matter where he looked, no matter how many faces he scanned, she was not among them.

It was resignated and defeated that finally Caius Ballad gave up.

His head hanging low and his legs feeling weak, finally he beat retreat.

The walls that had served as a dam for oblivion so many years finally caved in, the Chaos eating away at his body, at his soul, feeling lost and alone and defeated, finally with nowhere else to go, the purple haired hunter retracked his path back to where the other Caiuses had been, back to where he had once arrived and over to where all the guardian´s would go. Towards the new realm of death.

He didn´t want to.

But there was no choice.

It was all there was left to do.

The pull towards the strange white light and the form of the merged Caiuses, it got harder and harder to resist, became irresistable almost.

And he realized there was no point.

No point looking for the girl he loved.

He had no idea wether she was there in the first place.

After everything that had happened he wasn´t even sure she existed, ever had.

And even if he would manage to find her.

This place was dying.

He could feel it on himself.

Could feel the Chaos licking away at his form.

Their breaths were counted.

Their fates leading them away from each other, into different realms, into different worlds, different universes, seperating them forever.

There was no fighting against it this time, nothing he could do.

They would have had only a few seconds together at the best.

There was nothing to gain.

Nothing to win.

It was over.

And it was with a devastated sigh that Caius Ballad turned around to follow those other versions of himself, all the other Caiuses, joined them on their way back to the dying world, back to what he knew was going to become the new realm of death, back home.

He didn´t care.

Didn´t care what his purpose would be there.

What he was supposed to do.

He was done.

At the end of his wits. His powers. His everything.

He didn´t want to.

Didn´t want to live without a meaning.

Didn´t want to live there without her.

„Caius?!"

The crumbled walls around him drawing closer, the last few gallons of unscathed space starting to compress, the last pieces of the ceiling coming down on him, on all the other remaining Caiuses, he thought he´d heard his name.

 _That voice..._

Calling his name as if from far away.

It was only his mind playing tricks on him.

Were his last dying thoughts, his last memories of a dying world.

Or were they?

„CAIUS!"

No it was her!

He´d recognize her voice everywhere!

Even among all those Lightnings.

Among all those imposters.

Among all those illusions, all those fakes.

He´d always recognize that voice.

That voice...

It made him stop dead in his tracks.

The world around him crumbling, dissolving into nothingness, Caius Ballad almost didn´t dare to turn around.

Almost.

And it was there right at the edge of time, the brink of existence, of reality, that the man who had defied his fate so many times, turned around to find her.

Her.

The real her.

The real Lightning.

Wild pinkish hair.

Blue blazing eyes.

She was standing a hundred meters away from him, a cliff already starting to form between them that would soon seperate their worlds forever.

„LIGHTNING!"

With big chunks of ceiling raining down all around them as the space around them began to warp and blurr, their solid bodies suddenly starting to fade and the pressure of iminate oblivion pushing and pulling at their insides, ready to rip them into nothingness, Caius Ballad didn´t hesitate a second longer.

There was no more time.

And it was with newfound resolve that he broke into a run.

His feet hitting the last few debries of the old world heavy like lead, it was with his arms stretching out for her that he reached the edge of the monstrous rift that had been rapidly growing between the two of them.

There was no turning back now.

There was no hope.

But there were no regrets.

And with one final push of his black leather boots he sailed into the darkness.

He could still see her there.

Waiting on the other side.

Her blue eyes wide with fear and anticipation and longing.

She stood right at her side of the cliff, her arms reaching out for him, waiting for him.

And suddenly his body felt light, so light!

And so did his heart.

Light as a feather, as it beat away fast in his chest.

And suddenly it was all gone.

The deafening rumble of the ceiling caving in.

The growling sound of the ground moving apart.

And the strange pull towards the realm of death, towards the other Caiuses.

Suddenly it was all gone.

Drowned out by a gigantic burst of light, swallowed by a blinding wave of energy.

And it was at the moment that the universe collapsed, that time and space crumbled into a single tiny mass and all things ceaced to exist, that he tightly wrapped his arms around her.


	9. Epilogue

_Credits - Life is Strange OST_

* * *

What will happen when the old world dies?

What will happen when the universe collapses?

The world we knew, it will be ripped asunder.

And from it´s shards a new one will rise.

A world without crystals and Fal´Cie and fates and destiny. A world without borders. A world without gods.

A world without constants and full of variables.

A world without givens and full of possibilities.

A world of opportunities.

What will it be like that splendid new world, you might ask.

What will it bring?

Well...

Where to begin...

Imagine there´s the soothing rays of an early setting summer sun painting warm light patterns on your skin.

The scent of fresh field fowers dancing in the wind.

The soft tug of a gentle breeze.

The rustle of dry waist high grass.

And a perfect cloudless sky.

Imagine there´s the jolly chirps of early birds and the peaceful chirr of crickets hiding among those narrow blades of green.

There´s the taste of morning dew in the air and the sound of a tiny stream burbling in the distance.

And the touch of your skin on top of mine as your arms are wrapped around me in a tight embrace.

Imagine to open your eyes to bright pale blue ones.

While I´m staring into dark warm pools of amethyst .

As you´re looking into mine.

As I´m looking into your´s.

And I´m smiling.

Smiling at you.

Because I can feel your heartbeat right there underneath the palm of my hand resting on your chest.

A steady rhythmic beat.

Not the heart of Chaos.

But your very own.

And you...

You´re smiling back at me.

There always is a choice.

So many choices.

So many possibilities.

The old timelines collapsed and a new one will be formed.

We will create it along the way, as it was always supposed to be.

Yes, we are all time travellers in a sense.

Lost adventurers.

Walking the uncharted plains of this new history together, we´re all journeying towards the future.

One second at the time.

* * *

 _This journey is over now._

 _It wasn´t exactly an easy one._

 _Never simple, never straight-forward but never idle either._

 _Nobody knows what the next world will bring._

 _Will it be a peaceful one?_

 _One filled with joy, with harmony?_

 _I really cannot tell._

 _Cannot even fathom._

 _But whatever it will bring us,_

 _there´s one thing I know for sure._

 _No matter what._

 _ **We´ll be together.**_

* * *

 **And I´d choose you.**

 **In a hundred lifetimes.**

 **In a hundred worlds,**

 **In any version of reality.**

 **I´d find you.**

 **And I´d choose you.**

\- Kiersten White (The Chaos of Stars)

* * *

THE ETERNAL PARADOX

CHAPTER XIII-3: LIGHTNING RETURNS

PARALLEL LINES

BY

AMBER T.

* * *

 **THANK YOU FOR READING + HOPE YOU ENJOYED!**


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